The heroine in this wacky autobiography learns the
hard way
that
it pays to be unique, even if that might require an
acceptance of being
unhappy in her current family situation. The film's
tone is set with a
quote from Tolstoy: "All happy families are alike; all
unhappy families
are unhappy in their own way."

"Slums" is a sharp-witted, biting screwball comedy
about a
semi-dysfunctional
family who have some problems that prevents them from
being happy, but
not the kind of problems that can't be overcome. Alan
Arkin as Murray
Abramowitz
is a riot as a dour 65-year-old car salesman, who
after his divorce has
been given custody of the two boys and a girl: the
high school student
Ben (David); the elementary school student Ricky
(Eli); and, the
vivacious
15-year-old girl, a soon-to-be freshman in the high
school, Vivian
(Natasha).
Her coming-of-age experiences during the summer of
1976 will be the
focus
of the film. Her wide-eyed and aghast looks at what
she sees happening
to her are what give this film its particular flavor,
and her comical
and
sad observations about life often hit their target.

For the father, there are two things important about
raising children:
they are to get a good education and live at the right
address. The
economically
struggling Jewish family lives in Beverly Hills, even
if it is only on
the outskirts of town and in housing that is not quite
up to snuff. The
price they pay for having a Beverly Hills address is
that they live
like
nomads, often sneaking out of their flea-bag
apartments in the dead of
night rather than paying their rent. Murray is so
obsessed with this
idea
of having a Beverly Hills zip, that he fails to see
how he is ruining
his
family with his unchanging ways.

Tamara Jenkins' amusing autobiographical "Slums of
Beverly
Hills"
is an engaging story that centers on a young girl
first becoming
acquainted
with her body, her body functions, and her encounters
with sex. She
does
all this as she learns to live with a household of
obnoxious males: a
nosy
father, an older brother who is an aspiring actor and
a wiseacre, and a
younger brother innocently asking impertinent
questions. Murray is a
brash,
intrusive, and insensitive single-parent, who means
well but
overextends
his good intentions and fails to see his mistakes in
time.

The film opens as the father takes his daughter to
buy her
first
bra. She is concerned that her breasts have as her
father says,
"sprouted
overnight.'' Breasts become a big part of the story as
Vivian doesn't
know
quite how to handle her newly found riches thinking
she is cursed, even
going to a noted Hollywood plastic surgeon for a
"breast reduction"
consultation;
but at other times, she is proud that it attracts so
much attention
from
the opposite sex.

Moving into their new apartment which is no
different from
the "cheap
apartment" they just left she meets Eliot (Kevin
Corrigan), the
flirtatious
kid who lives in the next apartment and who is
immediately attracted to
her breasts. When she asks the seemingly
historical-minded Charles
Manson
T-shirt clad Eliot what high school he goes to, he
tells her "I dropped
out of school because I wanted to join the
workforce.'' She asks:
"Doing
what?'' And he replies: "Selling pot.'' He will get to
be the first to
feel her up, because as she says this is not a serious
relationship, it
is just a "building thing."

With things not going so well for the Abramowitz
family,
Murray sees
a way out as his rich brother Mickey (Carl Reiner) has
a troubled
29-year-old
daughter Rita (Marisa Tomei) who just ran away from a
drug rehab
program
and can't be controlled. He is willing to pay Murray
to take her in
with
his family and see if he can straighten her out. This
results in Murray
getting Rita into a nursing program and him taking his
family to live
in
a posh Beverly Hills place at Mickey's treat; this is
the first time
the
family is in an apartment they are not embarrassed to
be at.

Tomei gives a wonderfully over-the-top performance
as a
lost soul,
who brings her quirky antics into a household that is
trying to act
like
"people" but can't seem to make it. She becomes
buddies with Vivian,
telling
her that she is pregnant and speaking with her in a
gibberish pig
language
which only they can understand. She becomes the big
sister and the
female
friend she desperately needs in the male house and the
one who is hip
to
things girls are curious about, no matter how loopy
she is. Also, in
one
madcap sketch, she teaches the young girl the benefits
of dancing
around
in a nightgown with an extra-large vibrator.

The family sees Beverly Hills through the demo
luxury car
Murray
uses to transport them after each move, as the kids
look out the window
and identify the houses where the stars live. They are
usually on their
way for a steak breakfast at Sizzlers, something the
father splurges
for
thinking that meal will keep the kids fit.

Naturally things don't work out according to
Murray's
plans. Rita
accurately observes that Murray and her are similar,
they are both
screw
ups who can't change their errant ways. After one
hectic day of nursing
school, she realizes that she is not fit for that
vocation.

The two families meet in a diner as Mickey wishes to
see
what results
he has gotten for paying Murray's expenses, he becomes
anxious to
question
Rita about what she has learned. But Mickey can't help
being crude and
ridiculing Murray in front of his children. Murray is
served with a
barrage
of caustic comments by his brother, who repeatedly
reminds him how he
is
a failure and a bum and that if it weren't for his
generosity his kids
wouldn't have clothes on their backs and wouldn't be
fed. This is too
much
for the vibrant Vivian to hear as she sticks a fork
into her uncle's
leg,
and so ends their bourgeoisie digs. This scene was
funny, but it was
also
very hurtful. It touched on all the nerves that made
this into an
intense
dramatic scene that worked so well because the script
was tight and the
actors were well-cast, with especially Natasha Lyonne
as the girl who
was
always being surprised as she tries to find out who
she is. Natasha
gives
off hope that she will come out of this childhood
experience scarred
but
not beaten down, and will be ready in the future to
make her way in the
world and embrace what her parents have given her
instead of feeling
sorry
for herself. Natasha has a zeal which Alan Arkin plays
off as he wisely
plays his downbeat role with an eye for comedy, making
all those around
him blossom.